1. The Field
The device of this invention is directed to the heating of gasoline under pressure to a temperature higher than its normal boiling point while maintaining it liquid by means of the pressure. The purpose of this procedure is so that when the pressure is released as in the carburetor or the intake manifold apparently every particle of the gasoline becomes instantly gaseous and mixes thoroughly and evenly with the air rather than forming a mixture of gaseous gasoline, air and droplets of liquid gasoline as apparently often happens in present day automobile gasoline combustion.
2. Prior Art
Most authorities agree that the conversion of gasoline to energy in the present day automobile engine is not very efficient. Accordingly many inventors have attempted to obtain greater efficiencies in many ways. Some inventors have attempted to achieve such efficiency by applying heat to the gasoline on its way from the supply tank to the carburetor. Some of these inventions are disclosed in the patents included in the following list of patents which were found in a preliminary search regarding this invention.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. Nos. ______________________________________ 3,699,938 10/72 Frazier 3,253,647 5/66 Deshaies 3,354,872 11/67 Gratzmuller 1,300,600 4/19 Giesler 1,318,068 10/19 Giesler 1,227,530 5/17 Davis 961,152 6/10 Morse 3,378,063 4/68 Mefferd 3,001,519 9/61 Dietrich et al 1,384,512 7/21 Buchi 1,266,429 5/18 D'Orville 2,528,081 10/50 Rodnesky ______________________________________
During the prosecution of our application for patent Ser. No. 596,951 of which this application is a continuation-in-part, the following patents were located in searches made by the Examiner and cited in Office Actions.
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NOS. ______________________________________ 916,003 Osborn 3,699,938 Frazier 990,741 Jacobs 2,390,979 Young 3,354,872 Gratzmuller 3,118,496 Vandenbosch 2,231,525 Breitling ______________________________________
______________________________________ FOREIGN PATENTS ______________________________________ French April 1939 Quellet 840,643 Great Britain Jan. 1925 Tartrais 212,902 Austria Nov. 1959 Rassbohrer 209,774 ______________________________________
Many of the patents are directed to the heating of heavy oil (boiling points in range of from 230.degree. to 330.degree. C. -- 446.degree. to 626.degree. F.) in order to soften the practically solid oil so that it can be used in diesel or other internal combustion engines. None of the other patents disclose or suggest the heating and/or maintaining of gasoline under pressure in a liquid state even though the temperature of the gasoline being heated is above the normal boiling point of gasoline at normal atmospheric pressures.